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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

The Broughton Archipelago Recommendations Q & A

So many questions are pouring in on Facebook, with lots of
misconceptions about the historic agreement reached by three First Nations and
the Government of British Columbia, that I thought I’d compile them here with
answers from the text of the actual Steering Committee recommendations.

1.There are
122 open netpen salmon farm sites in BC:why does this agreement only deal with 17 of them?

The farms in question are located on the traditional
territories of the ‘Namgis, Mamalillikula and Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis
Nations, located in the island and mainland regions roughly adjacent to Port
McNeill. These three Nations demanded removal of the farms from their
territories and members occupied several of the farms for the better part of a
year before the provincial government agreed to establish talks. A
government-to-government process was established, creating a Steering Committee
to deal with just the farms in these Nations’ territories.

2.How many
farms are actually being shut down?

Between now and 2022, ten farms will be deactivated in the
Broughton Archipelago.A further seven
will close in 2023, UNLESS agreement to keep them open is reached with the Nations
involved and DFO has issued new operating licences. Below, the farms are listed
by the year in which tenures will end; some allowance of time is given to
decommission the site thereafter.

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Cliff Bay

Burdwood

Wicklow Point

Port Elizabeth

Sir Edmund Bay

Arrow Passage

Upper Retreat

Larsen Island

Cecil Island

Potts Bay

Midsummer

Cypress Harbour

Glacier Falls

Humphrey Rock

Doctor Islets

Sargeaunt

Swanson Island

3.They’re
just moving the farms somewhere else, aren’t they?

No, although there are some changes to the maximum biomass
of fish allowed at each site over the next four years. There may also be applications for increased
biomass at other sites (outside the Broughton), where First Nations agree. The
Broughton Agreement does not speak to this, as the First Nations at the table
could not speak for Nations in other areas. Otherwise, a province-wide
moratorium on new farm sites is still in place.

4.Why didn’t
they shut the farms down immediately?

The government-to-government negotiations took into
consideration questions of law (the potential for the salmon farms to sue the government
for loss of the farms) and of fairness to workers as well. The closure dates
chosen allow for an orderly transition out of the area, with time to grow out
the stocked farms and relocate workers.

5.Will
there be any wild salmon left in five years’ time?

Better a historian than a prophet…some fish stocks in the
Broughton, such as the pink salmon, are at an all-time low abundance. No-one
knows if they will rebound. However, the Broughton recommendations go a long
way to giving them a fighting chance, by establishing a role for First Nations
in setting management objectives, monitoring and enforcement of the terms of
the “Replacement Tenures” that will be granted to the 17 farms during the
transition. The objectives will become conditions of the leases granted by the
Province and so at least in theory, the leases could be lost if the industry
does not comply with them.